Asociación de Familiares de Detenidos y Desaparecidos (ASFADDES)

ASFADDES is a human rights organisation that tries to break the culture of silence and impunity surrounding forced disappearances in Colombia. The organisation provides assistance and support to families of disappeared people, aiming to transform painful experiences through struggling for justice.

Overview

ASFADDES (in English: the Association for Families of Prisoners and the Disappeared) was founded in 1982 after the detention and forced disappearance of 13 people, mainly students from the Nacional and Distrital universities. Its main aim was to search for the missing people, but it also sought answers from the authorities as to what happened, who took the disappeared, and why. ASFADDES has continued from this starting point and is still engaged in championing the disappeared.

The Association drew inspiration from the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Paza de Mayo in Argentina, who forged the way in the tireless struggle for the right to truth, justice, and reparation. Therefore ASFADDES is dedicated to standing up for the protection, promotion, and dissemination of human rights.

The organisation knows that silence is the accomplice of the culture of impunity and under no circumstances will they be silenced in their demands for truth, justice, and reparation.

Peace is a constant process so as long as a culture of impunity, inequality, and injustice persists, there will never be peace in Colombia. Since its foundation 24 years ago, ASFADDES has believed peace is built upon the recognition and respect of human rights, political freedom, and equality.

What Services Are Provided?

ASFADDES guides and advises the relatives of missing people and also offers counselling and guidance in the formal procedures to go through prior to contacting the authorities.

Relatives are offered individual teaching which increases their awareness of what they are going through and helps them understand what forced disappearance is, why it happens, who plans it, and why it is so outrageous.

It is very important to ASFADDES that people gain a greater awareness of the reality of the situation in which they live. The majority of relatives of the missing accept they must live through the tragedy, but do not understand it. They ask themselves “why me?” The relatives who turn to ASFADDES discover theirs is not a single tragedy, but one of thousands, and there are others in the same situation who transform painful experiences through resistance and struggle. When they come to ASFADDES therefore, every relative has the option for therapy.

The organisation also helps search for the missing or arrested people.

Geographical Area of Operation

Across Colombia: Five headquarters in Bucaramanga, Medellín, Neiva, Barrancabermeja, and Cundinamarca. The head office is in Bogotá D.C.

ASFADDES hopes to reopen some headquarters that were closed because of security problems and a lack of economic resources in Cali, Popayán, and near Río Sucio Caldas. They also want to strengthen their work in the Atlantic Coast.

Funding Resources

In the beginning the economic resources came from the solidarity of labour unions, social movements, and the relatives of the missing persons. Right now ASFADDES does not have a specific funding resource.

What Further Information Would You Like?

More than receiving information ASFADDES would like to share information with others. They would like international agencies, entities, and organisations to know about their work and the sacrifice and struggle of the relatives of the missing people.

Besides funding resources, ASFADDES needs the support of the international community in continuing its demand for victims’ rights as a reality instead of rhetoric as is usually the case. Victims need to be listened to more and better supported.

What New Contacts Would You Like To Make?

Contact with funding agencies and organisations able to aid ASFADDES in their work against a culture of impunity and also to share their experiences of work in this area.

Associated Organisations

ASFADDES has links with Fighting Against Forced Disappearances in Latin America (FEDEFAM), through which they have been able to contact the relatives of those who have been forcibly disappeared in Asia and Africa.

They are also part of the Coalition Against Torture at a national level.

They coordinate activities with human rights organisations through the Colombian Jurist Commission. They participate in the National Commission of the Search for Disappeared Persons and with other NGOs, especially human rights NGOs, with whom they share areas of concern (for example the fight against a culture of impunity, the demand for victims' rights, and family and community support).